The word is getting out: partnerships are profitable. Our state of the marketplaces report this year showed that CRO is down to 23%, while alliances stay strong at 46%. With more revenue coming from these partnerships, it only makes sense to have an executive role dedicated to the strategy, future, and management of such a quick-growing area of a company’s revenue. Hence, the reason alliance leaders, or partnerships leaders, have started taking over cloud go-to-market from CROs.
But what is a partnerships leader, also known as a chief partner officer, and what do they do? How can they help your company get the most out of alliances and partnerships?
What is a Chief Partner Officer?
A chief partner officer, or a CPO, takes on the role of growing a company’s partnerships, often taking on the role as head of alliances and dealing with partner-sourced revenue. They can also sometimes be called the “channel chief,” as they head up managing all of a company’s indirect sales channels.
What Does a Chief Partner Officer Do?
A chief partner officer, or a CPO, is an executive role focused on managing and improving partnerships within an organization, including overseeing cloud marketplace partnerships and co-selling motions. Here’s a list of some of the things that successful CPOs tend to do:
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Sets the Tone for Team Spirit
No matter their size, successful organizations align around one mission. Your sales and alliances teams are no different and they need this “all-for-one” mindset to break down any barriers and eliminate fiefdoms when it comes to Marketplace deals. Chief partner officers should push early and often for alignment, and be the example of good alignment from the top down.
Collaborating involves not only focusing on the goals and needs of each department, but also on the overall business objectives: building a prospect pipeline, converting those prospects, and meeting customers where they are spending money. Buy-in from all parties is essential, and CPOs need to commit to good communication and transparency, and make sure everyone feels like they have a voice in the process and can freely voice any concerns.
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Deploys Cloud Specialists
We’ve recently seen an emergence of cloud specialists in alliances teams. These specialists take the lead on understanding complex Cloud Provider programs and translating the details to enable their sales colleagues to quickly move on opportunities.
Given the many differences in language, incentive structures, programs, and rules of engagement across the three hyperscalers, committing a specialist to each Marketplace you work with produces the best results.
In addition to their translation responsibilities, cloud specialists also promote your company’s story among the Cloud Providers. They lay the groundwork for positive interactions when your sales team connects with theirs for existing or new deals. CPOs should ensure that cloud specialists are on the team and active in partnership creation and management.
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Encourages Divisions of Labor
Think of the sales and alliances partnership like a relay race. One runner carries the baton for a set distance and then passes it along for the next runner to advance.
Chief partner officers should create environments in which teams should feel free to lean on each other while still looking to lighten the other’s load where possible. Even little gestures go a long way. For example, when sales want their alliances colleagues to contact a Cloud Provider about an opportunity, they can draft the email for their colleague to send. A little goes a long way with actions like these.
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Is Methodical and Strategic
If your company is just starting to sell on Marketplace, it is best to approach one Cloud Provider at a time. Trying to enter two or all three at once invites chaos and puts immense pressure on the sales/alliances relationship. By starting with one, chief partner officers can build that internal alignment while learning about the experience for future expansion.
Similarly, CPOs can make life easier for everyone by building initial listings as custom Private Offers. These transactions directly connect your company with the customer and more closely mirror your natural sales motion. While you may someday add self-service click-to-buy listings, these types of purchases on Marketplace are practically nonexistent for enterprise software products.
When starting out, CPOs should gather as much intel as they can about payment terms and any special conditions that may trickle down to your company. You don’t want to learn the hard way that you locked into a buyer’s unclear custom purchasing or payment terms. If (and when) you do encounter potholes, you can keep everyone calm and focused on the long-term vision.
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Measures and Celebrates Success
Define Marketplace success with key performance indicators that actually matter. Consider metrics around the volume of prospects and deals in the pipeline, conversions, time to close, terms of service negotiations, and how well your team works with the Cloud Provider to reel in opportunities.
Regular check-ins will help you identify what needs to be tweaked and confirm what’s working well. When you have successes, be sure to share them. One hallmark across successful Marketplace programs is the celebration of new deals and public kudos for the reps behind them. High-profile praise drives interest through the rest of the organization, which is critical in the early days of your program.
Looking for Tips on How to Manage Partnerships?
Data shows that CEO and alliance-sponsored programs are growing about 3x faster than ones sponsored by CROs. For more information on how you can grow your indirect sales channels with a head of alliances, speak to our Marketplace experts today!
FAQs
Who owns Cloud Go-to-Market at a software company?
More often, we are seeing chief partnership officers heading up cloud go-to-market at software companies.
Is the CRO or alliances leader responsible for partner revenue?
It depends on the organization, but more and more, companies are adding an alliances leader position to handle partner revenue as their indirect sales channels grow.
